The European Commission launched on Thursday 8 April a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on a proposal for a targeted revision of the state aid framework for research, development and innovation. Interested parties have 8 weeks, until 3 June 2021, to respond to the consultation.
Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President responsible for Competition Policy, said the Commission wanted to “further simplify our existing State aid Framework to make it easier for Member States to support research, development and innovation, including by small and medium-sized enterprises, while ensuring that possible competition distortions are kept to the minimum”.
The Commission proposes a number of targeted changes in a draft (https://bit.ly/3dGnar4 ).
The proposed revisions are as follows:
– improve and update the existing definitions of research and innovation activities eligible for support under the RDI framework, in particular to clarify their applicability to digital technologies and activities related to digital transformation, in order to provide legal certainty for Member States and stakeholders, while facilitating investment in RDI that will enable the digital transformation of enterprises in the EU;
– introduce new provisions for public support for technology infrastructure (e.g., facilities, equipment, capacity and support services needed to develop, test and upgrade technology, such as testing laboratories) in order to encourage R&D investment in such infrastructure;
– simplify some rules, for example by introducing a simplified method of calculating indirect costs in order to determine eligible costs with the aim of facilitating the practical application of the RDI framework, where the evaluation found a possible excessive administrative burden for companies and managing authorities.
The adoption of the new RDI framework is planned for the second half of 2021. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)